A fire engulfs a house, and the body of fourteen-year-old Roxy is discovered inside. How did she end up there, and what led to her tragic fate? As the investigation unfolds, Roxy’s mother and one of her friends are also murdered.

This is the fourth installment in the gripping police procedural DI Natalie Ward’s series, and is packed with twists and turns, culminating in an unexpected conclusion.

I would like to thank Bookouture & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review

Fantastic thrilled fast paced I enjoyed it so much this book kept me guessing from start too finish this is worth a read

This latest instalment in the series is another solid read. It all starts with the young 14 year old Roxy telling her Mum she was having a sleepover. Sadly for her Mum Cathy she receives devastating news the next morning from Natalie Ward and the team that her daughter has been found murdered in a house nowhere near where she was meant to be in a house her Mother knows nothing about. It's every parents worse nightmare.

Natalie and the team are determined to find out why Roxy was in that house and why. The two nightclub owner brothers that own the house...what is their connection or are they innocent parties in all this. During the course of the investigation they find a second victim, and then another...absolutely nothing is off the table with this case it seems.

Once again Carol Wyer has produced a well thought out storyline with characters I personally love and I will definitely continue on in my binge read of this series as I am thoroughly enjoying it

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This was a real edge of your seat thriller, with so many twists and turns, you wont know which way is up! Fantastic and gripping read! Carol Wyer writes so well, and with such realism that you cannot help but be sucked into the story.

It had been a while since I read a book by this author and I was happy to meet DI Natalie Ward again. 

She and her team are called when the body of a 14 year old girl Roxy has been found and at the same time we are introduced to a few characters who seem to hide a few things. But does that also means they are killers? What they most certainly are good in is not telling the truth which makes them even more suspicious.

The killer in the meantime does not waste time and when Roxy's mom is found dead a few days later, Natalie and her crew are struggling to find connections. A lot of people are not prepared to come forward and the police has to dig deep in order to find the culprit.

Natalie works long days and most people would be happy to go home then and relax with their family. Natalie does not really look forward to go home. While she is doing everything she can to solve the cases, she counts on her husband David to look after their home and kids. David though is not doing a very good job and once again it's Natalie who has to try and keep them together.

How long will she be able to do this? How long is she willing to do this? Is she ready to make a life changing decision or will they try and work it out?

This is a story that keeps you guessing until the last few pages. Not in a million years could I have unraveled this!

This book is not a good book. Oh no. This book is an excellent book. ;) 5 stars‘

Thank you

So you’ll know that when I see a Carol Wyer book I jump to buy or request and generally say that I’m saving it for a time I can properly savour it. As a result this was my Italy read!

This is part of a series (book 4) but you wouldn’t have had to read the preceding books. It definitely helped though as you know the investigators, so here we get a huge insight into what is going on in Detective Natalie Ward’s life as she looks into a death that is too close to home given she has teenagers.

I felt for the family of the victim and then was intrigued and shocked when another murder happened. We get to know the victim’s family, a mostly unlikeable crowd, but who are victims of poverty. Their unlikeability, along with constant cursing, removed me slightly from being fully invested. Also the fact that pacing wise it was slow, not really slow burn, just trundling along. That being said, by the end I was thinking ’next in the series, please! So, a mixed bag that did the job! Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the book in return for an honest review.

You can never go wrong with a Carol Wyer book and this one is no different. As always, excellent plotting and a delightful mystery to solve. Fast-paced, thrilling ... everything you've come to expect from this author. My problem with this series lies solely with the main character of Natalie, who has never quite been able to convince me as much as Robin did in Wyer's previous series.

Oh my, I’ve been in a right spin in my head with this one. My brains had a huge job on sorting these twists out, so many of them.

I LOVED it.

It’s been a moment since I’ve got to one of this authors books as I’ve been burnt out on detective stories. And now I’ve come back to read some off my backlist. This is one of them.

I enjoyed this so much. The way it was laid out the way it looked like everybody and the refuseperson was guilty!

Super author. Super book!

I really need to pack up her latest books.

I had not read the previous Natalie Ward books, but it made no difference!

14 year old Roxy goes missing, after telling her mother she is going to her friend's house for a sleepover and in the same town, remains are found, in a burned down house. There are so many twists and turns in the story. Lies, deceit and lots of unlikeable characters - the 2 guys who owned the house, own a local nightclub and very shady!

This book will keep you guessing from start to finish, and you will feel for this young girl and her family. It was hard to put this book down! I want to read the other books in the series now!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC

I would especially like to thank Bookouture Editions and the Netgalley website for allowing me to read this book.

I bought the series on kindle except that I realized that I had this book in my Netgalley library.

This book is the fourth in the series: "Detective Natalie Ward".

It all began when fourteen-year-old Roxy was found murdered when she was supposed to spend the evening at a friend's house as she often does. Her body was found several miles away from her home in a house belonging to two brothers who did not know Roxy. Natalie Ward will investigate to find out what Roxy was doing in the basement of a mansion instead of being at her best friend's house. While investigating her stepfather and three brothers, Natalie Ward discovered that Roxy had been admitted to the hospital with more than suspicious injuries. Upon learning this, her mother Cathy becomes nervous and soon after, she disappears.

Except that her body will be discovered almost in the same place as her daughter, there Natalie Ward wonders, especially since Ellie also disappears. Will the detective be able to save her and find out who did it?

A book read in one go, so much so that I hung on to the story, so moving at certain passages, captivating, full of suspense and twists and turns with very endearing characters. Can't wait to read the whole series.

I highly recommend that you read these books in order as its part of a series. This book was very well written and fast paced. I couldnt stop turning the pages and wanting to know more. I cannot wait to start at number 1 and read all the others.

This was book four of the Detective Natalie Ward series and buddy read with Chloe.

The storyline was interesting yet puzzling which kept me enthralled to find out who the antagonist was.

I loved the police interview chapters with flashbacks, these were unique as not seen this before. It really helped as a reader to see where the truth lay and how the team came to their conclusions. Very clever!

I have to mention that the negative reviews stating, too frequent use of the F word was is inaccurate and was very minimal. In fact less than 0.1 % of the whole book. I feel the usage was relevant to the story as it’s mostly about various teenage friendship circles, which to me gave a realistic feel to the characters... they lived in a rough area.. the language reflects this. Also the swearing gave the correct feel for the frustrations of the police team.

Another great read from Carol Wyer. I’m fully invested in this series and will be going straight to the next book.

Regret is a terrible thing. And today I find myself regretting reading this book. Not because it's bad. No, it's bloody great but somehow I've missed two from this series. The good news is theres another three after (where have I been??) and I have lots of Audible credits so will be moving directly to The Blossom Twins!

Natalie Ward is an unusual fictional character in that shes actually really likeable. We might root for a lot of our heroines but would we want to go to Nandos with them? No, because you'd probably end up choking on a halloumi stick just to add to their tragedy. Natalie is just a bit more relatable. And you get the sense of actual detective work going on rather than leaps of intuition that don't make sense. Great stuff.

A well considered thriller. Complex characters and lots of diversions to throw the reader off the scent and keep them guessing!

Another brilliant read from Carol Wyer. As usual, I couldn't stop reading. I really like Natalie and the interspersing of her personal life around the case. The case itself had plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and I was genuinely surprised about the reveal as I'd totally discounted them while reading. Can't wait for more!

How are we already on the 4th installment of the Ward series?! Wyer is a crazy good author who is just flying through these books. The awesome thing about that is the next book is better than the last.

I REALLY fell in love with Natalie in this book. I was very cold when Wyer started a new series with Ward. I was very against her character and her morals. But now? I can see why her character is closed off and her morals are a little haywire. I can't blame her for some of the decisions she has made, I just wish she could have gone about them a different way which I see happening in the 5th installment The Blossom Twins.

This book was crazy in many different levels. The case was crazy. Natalie's home life is crazy. This case had me all kinds of frustrated due to never knowing who could be the suspect. One chapter I would be certain it was one person and then the next chapter had me thinking it was someone completely different.

I loved this book the best so far because it gives us more into Natalie's home life. We've seen bits and pieces through the installments but nothing like this book gave us. Her husband's addiction to gambling, Leigh's cold heartedness and Josh's weird personality outbursts. We got to see pieces of every family member like we've never seen before and I can't imagine what that must feel like while being a lead detective. Yikes.

LOVED LOVED! Carol Wyer doesnt disappoint..ever! Her writing is one of the best and the Det Ward series is so intricate and deep..and dark.
Thank you for my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Another wonderfully gripping book in the Natalie Ward series. A chilling storyline that keeps you gripped the whole way through, a real page turner. It keeps you guessing and desperate to keep reading despite everyday necessary routine trying to get in the way.

I am a huge fan of Natalie Ward, and this was another great book. It was gripping, thrilling and tense and i will continue to adore this series.